The Scottish Naturalist. 243 



•at some point. At or near the tip a sporidium forms, very rarely 

 more than one, nearly straight, or usually more or less curved, and 

 narrowed to both ends. The sporidia are very much smaller than 

 the spores. 



Herr Weber never succeeded in following the germination of 

 the sporidia on fresh plants of Juncns bufonius under any condi- 

 tions. He concludes, as a result of his observations, that the 

 fungus is a peculiar type of the Ustilaginece, From the ordinary 

 forms of this group it differs chiefly in the numerous promycelia, 

 in the small size, and the spirally-curved form of the sporidia. It 

 is, therefore, not a Schinzia, and he accordingly places it in a new 

 genus (which he calls Eiitorrhiza), among Ustilaginece. 



Melanotaenium endogenum, a fungus first noted by Unger 



in his Exantheme dc?- Fhflanzen as attacking the stems, especially 

 at the nodes, of Galium mollugo, is very abundant on the sand- 

 hills along the Aberdeenshire coast, and probably elsewhere, in the 

 stems of Galium verum. The plants attacked by it become 

 markedly different from healthy plants in their whole aspect. 

 They remain stunted, erect, and not unlike a miniature Equisetum 

 in habit. The stems become dark, usually dull purplish or blackish 

 throughout, or at the nodes with streaks of the same colour down 

 the stem and alonsr the mid ribs of the leaves below. The leaves 

 otherwise are sickly yellowish-green, markedly different from the 

 green of the healthy plant. The flowers usually remain unde- 

 veloped. On transverse section the cortex of the plant is seen to 

 be much crowded with the spores of the fungus, usually collected 

 in groups, the spores in which are more or less angular from 

 mutual pressure. They are brown, but vary considerably in shade 

 or depth of colour, probably differing with their age and develop- 

 ment. The plants attacked by this fungus are very conspicuous, 

 and it cannot be confounded with any yet recorded from the 

 British Islands. 



LIST OF CASUALS AND INTKODUCED PLANTS IN N.E. 

 SCOTLAND, ESPECIALLY IN DEE. 



By Prof. J. W. H. TRAIL, A.M., M.D., F.L.S. 



MY original intention in :.naking up the following notes was 

 merely to put together the results of personal observa- 

 tions made either in my out-door work, or in examining some 

 collections that have passed through my hands ; but as the work 



